Spelling Champion

Sam loves to spell.  He constantly asks me to give him words to spell.  As a person who has always struggled with spelling, I find his infatuation strange but endearing.

When I found out about a home-school spelling bee, I quickly asked Sam if he would like to participate.  It's strange to see a six year old get that excited about spelling, I tell you.

We spent the next couple of weeks reviewing the words on the level one spelling sheet.  He did an excellent job and we felt prepared.

When we arrived at the event, Sam got cold feet.  He decided that he did not want to spell in front of people.  In exasperation, I told him to get back into the car so we could go home.  He then changed his mind, and joined the line to spell words.  The kids lined up and were asked a spelling word.  If they answered correctly, they went to the back of the line to await another turn, if they spelled it incorrectly, they sat in the audience.  Any kid who was able to spell ten words correctly was awarded a certificate.  Sam did a great job spelling some hard words but about halfway through he was given the word ice.  He accidentally said "s" instead of "c" and was disqualified.  He was very, very sad.  I had to take him into the hall so his crying would not disturb others.

After a minute Grace came out to announce the Level Two (there are five levels, with the parents competing in level five) competition was starting.  She said Sam could participate again.  I didn't believe her at first, but I was assured children could participate in whatever level they wanted to, regardless of previous wins and losses.

Sam decided he would like to try again.  We had not even looked at the level two spelling words, but Sam wanted to try.  I wasn't going to dissuade him.  All the smaller kids, except Sam, were soon sitting with their families.

Soon there were only five competitors left.  The next oldest to Sam is ten years old.

Sam kept spelling all the words they gave him.  He completed the entire round.  He was awarded his certificate, with the four other finishers.

He was rather proud of himself!

He also tried round three, but got out after a few words.  He decided he had enough at that point, but he was still pleased.

Grace and Sam forced me to spell in the adult round.  I only made it three rounds. I'm ashamed to say that I misspelled the word bicycle.  Spelling in front of an audience is hard!